The Mayhem Ball Tour: Lady Gaga Shines in the Darkness
Image by FFP
Lady Gaga brought out the gothic babe for her Mayhem Ball tour.
Lady Gaga brought The Mayhem Ball tour to Los Angeles, and I was stoked to see her live once again. My first Gaga concert was about five years ago when she played at Dodger Stadium during the Chromatica Ball tour. That concert was the best concert I’ve ever attended, but now I might have to give a tie to both.
This concert took place at the Kia Forum in Inglewood. For those that have never seen a show there, it’s a much smaller venue than a stadium and gives any concert a more intimate vibe. Her entrance was grand; Gaga was atop a giant red dress that revealed a cage underneath with her dancers in it. She opened with “Bloody Mary”, which is one of my top Gaga songs. That led into the smash hit “Abracadabra”, which really took the audience’s excitement over the top.
Gaga’s Mayhem Ball at the Forum, Inglewood, CA.
The whole concert had a Halloween/gothic vibe to it. Some of the setpieces that contributed to the tone were a giant skull with a winding staircase on it, an oversized bin filled with what looked like sand, skeletons, and dead bodies (which turned out to be her dancers), a lighting design that was mostly red, deep blue, and green, and digital visuals of a vampire hand reaching up or down from some eerie place.
It wasn’t until later that I was told Gaga’s inspo for the theme of the concert was the musical The Phantom of the Opera, which totally clicked when I thought about the imagery. Some references that I clocked later were the set where her musicians were placed, which was the facade of a theater house balcony, to the time when her masked counterpart (which I’ll call Evil Gaga) pulled her along the runway in a boat covered by fog, and more. Even before the concert began, there was opera music being played as the audience filled up the venue.
The theme was an exploration of the duality of the psyche going through changes. Evil Gaga, who was a masked dancer, was tempting Gaga throughout the concert to become one with the night, just like in The Phantom of the Opera when the Phantom is trying to lure Christine to join him in the depths of darkness. Lady Gaga needed to fight this temptation and bring herself out into the light. It was very theatrical and something I’ve never seen at a pop concert.
I love how much energy Gaga brings to her performances.
I can’t even count how many costume changes there were for this show. One of the costumes that Evil Gaga wore was a replica of Gaga’s red lace outfit from the 2009 VMA’s where she took the Moonman award home for Best New Artist and proclaimed the win was for “God and the gays”. This leads me to one of the more spectacular performances of the night.
When she performed “Paparazzi”, she was dressed in a flowy white dress, a silver helmet, silver crutches, and a sheer white train that was 100 feet long. The train acted as a symbol of being supported, as well as being held back by the idea of fame and flashing lights. The version of the song she sang was slowed down, which was beautifully sung by the diva. As she sang it, the runway underneath her lit up with the Pride colors and it penetrated the train. Gaga has always been a champion for the LGBTQIA+ community and this visual show of support was stunning.
This was such a powerful moment.
Gaga sang a bunch of songs from the Mayhem album, her most popular songs from the past, and some lesser known tunes in her catalogue. The concert was another testament to Lady Gaga’s artistry. Every detail, every costume change, every move on stage was something that Gaga envisioned and brought to life for her fans. I wonder what she’ll do next?